st volume. Daniel also had an interest in languages and translation, and his first published work was az translation from the Italian of a well-known book. This work was published by Simon Waterson, who would then publish nearly all of Daniel's later work and who would remain a faithful friend throughout the poet's life (Sesonsy 15).
While many of the details of Daniel's life remain obscure, it appears that he traveled in Italy, perhaps with Sir Edward Dymock. He also enjoyed the favor of the Pembrokes of Wilton, though precisely when this began is not clear. He says in his Defence of Rhyme that he was encouraged in his verses by Sidney's sister, Mary, Countess of Pembroke. There has been speculation that Mary was the Delia of the sonnets, the name used in Daniel's sonnets much as Shakespeare referred to a dark lady without ever naming that person. There is no certainty as to who Delia may have been or even whether it was a real person or only a name to represent an idealized woman (Sprague xiii-xv).
The Countess of Pembroke was famed as a patron of learning and as a friend of poets. Numerous poets wrote dedications to her. John Aubrey wrote in his Brief Lives,
In her time Wilton House was like a college, there were so many learned and ingeniose persons. She was the greatest patronesse of witt and learning of any lady in her time (Aubrey 313).
It is probable that Daniel as introduced to this household by Florio, though he might have come as a tutor. Daniel was by 1592 beginning to tinker with his own earlier poetry, which might have been a subject of discussion with the Countess. He pays homage to her in his Preface to Cleopatra when he writes:
Those Hymnes that thou doost consecrate to heaven,
Which Israel's Singer to his God did frame
Unto thy voice enternitie have given,
And makes thee deere to him from whence they came. . .
He also dedicated his book Delia to "the Right Hon
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